The Good in the Bad and the Ugly
There are many old sayings that continually prove themselves true. Sayings like ‘When life gives you lemons, make lemonade’, ‘Life is full of surprises’, etc. There is one classic moral that doesn’t prove itself true visibly, yet I hold it close to my heart and apply it to my life regularly. It is ‘There is some good in everybody’. Now, many nay sayers will immediately bring up some infamous historical people, primarily Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin. I must admit that the acts these men committed were atrocious, horrific, and abominable, but there is some good in them, no matter how drowned out by their actions it is. Hitler headed the greatest economic recovery of Germany’s history. Stalin, in enslaving much of his own people, made Russia into an international superpower. They wanted what was best for their nation, which is a good quality, despite the unethical methods they used.
While those two men are extreme examples, with only an iota of good in them, the majority of people never do anything to discredit their morals. People that commit a crime, such as stealing a car, know that it is wrong. The fact that they know that what they are doing is wrong points to some good in them, a sort of cartoon angel sitting on their shoulder.
Another classic example is the Dark Sith Lord Darth Vader. The most despised man in the universe for so many years, while watching his emperor torment his son with force lightning, finally finds some compassion in the depths of his soul and heaves Emperor Palpatine into the depths of the Death Star. It may have taken some pretty extreme circumstances to bring out this element of him, but he still has some good in him
However, just because someone has some good in them, doesn’t mean I like them. There are plenty of people I know that I loathe, despise, abhor, that I would revel in punching in the face, that have good in them. They may not be nice to me, cooperate with me, or for whatever reason we don’t get along, but the fact is not changed. By recognizing this and applying it to people I know, I can reevaluate my opinion of them, or take them with a grain of salt. I believe that there is good in everybody, no matter how concealed it is.